(I find out I am pregnant. My fiancé is overjoyed because he is told the likelihood of him having children is very slim. We decide to have a small get-together with our immediate family to announce my pregnancy. Naturally, our families are excited and the usual question is asked.)

Husband’s Step-Dad: “So, do you want a boy or a girl?”

Me: “I think it’s a boy, but a girl would be fine.”

Husband: *snorts* “Yeah, ever since she found out she was pregnant, she’s been saying that she just knows it’s a boy.”

Mother-In-Law: *snottily* “Well, I think it’s going to be a girl. I need a granddaughter, because I already have two grandsons.” *pats my fiancé’s youngest nephew’s head*

(The room suddenly falls silent and everyone stares at her a moment before my dad changes the subject by asking if we have any ideas for names yet. Fast forward to my next ultrasound, where the tech asks if I’d like to know the sex. No surprise: it’s a boy. We call our mothers to tell them the news. I hear a shriek from my fiancé’s phone loud enough to drown out my mother and stare in shock as my fiancé holds his phone away from his ear while his mother screeches.)

Mother-In-Law: *obviously outraged* “There’s no way they can tell the sex right now! It’s too early! It’s got to be a girl!”

(My fiancé rolls his eyes and tells her that it’s definitely a boy because he saw the penis on the ultrasound and we had the photo to prove it. Fast forward several months to my baby shower:)

Aunt: “So, how long before you and [Fiancé] have another baby?”

(Before I can answer, my mother-in-law butts in.)

Mother-In-Law: “Oh, as soon as possible, so that I can have a granddaughter.”

(My aunt and a family friend exchange a look while two of my cousins whisper to each other, obviously not sure how to react to my mother-in-law’s rude behavior.)

Me: “Not likely. [Fiancé] and I have discussed it and have decided that we’re only having the one, because I don’t think I could handle the stress of more than one child.”

Aunt: *nods* “I can understand that. You don’t want to have more than you want or can care for, or you’ll resent them.”

Mother-In-Law: “Well, if they space it out so that [Son]’s in school when they have the next one, I think she could handle it.” *to me* “You have to keep having babies until I get a granddaughter.”

(There’s a collective gasp of shock, followed by dirty looks cast at my mother-in-law, then sympathetic looks for me.)

Me: “No, [Mother-In-Law]. I’m not having any more children, and that’s the end of it.”

(Sadly, that was NOT the end of it; my son will be two in a couple of months and this crazy cow STILL keeps trying to tell my now-husband and me that we “need to give [her] a granddaughter.” Little does she know, my husband is getting “the snip” when he comes home from his deployment next year.)

(As part of our checkout process, we’re required to ask if the customer is a member of our loyalty program. This particular customer says she is, but hasn’t shopped with us in years; I try to look up her old account but can’t find it, so she decides to just get a new account. I take all the necessary information and create the new account for her, then mention that I can give her a 10% discount for signing up with us.)

Customer: “Oh, well, in that case, there was one other item I was considering buying. Can I go grab it really quick?”

Me: “Sure, no problem!”

(She steps away from the registers, and because we’ve been quite busy all day and there’s a long line of customers behind her, I put a suspend on her transaction, set her items aside, and help the next person in line. By the time I finish that transaction, the original customer has returned, and is called up by my manager, who is on the register next to mine.)

Customer: *pointing to me* “She was helping me; I don’t know what happened….”

Me: *gathering her items from where I’d set them aside* “I just put a suspend on the order, but I can finish it up for you now!”

(Up until this point the customer has been perfectly civil, but now all of a sudden she explodes.)

Customer: “I stepped away for TWO SECONDS!”

Manager: *clearly as shocked by the sudden outburst as I am* “I… I’m sorry ma’am, but there’s a line—”

Customer: *still very belligerent* “No, it’s fine; I don’t need an explanation.”

(Meanwhile I’ve resumed the transaction, but I am distracted enough by the customer’s outburst that I miss one item, and only notice that I didn’t scan it after she’s paid for the rest of her items. So, bracing for another outburst, I apologize and start a new transaction for the last item, and do an override to give her the 10% discount, even though this is technically no longer her first transaction after opening a loyalty account. Because it was my mistake — and because I know she’ll blow up at me if I don’t — I give her the discount. She glares at me through this whole second transaction, but I get through it and hand her her bag and receipt.)

Me: “Okay, you’re all set. Have a nice day!”

(At this point she just takes her bag and stays standing at the register, still glaring at me.)

Me: “Um… Is there something else I can help you with?”

Customer: *in the most snarky tone imaginable* “Well, I thought you might say, ‘Thank you,’ since I did spend my money here, and you did make me wait.”

(And then, while I struggled to come up with a response that wouldn’t get me fired on the spot, she turned and walked away. I had to step into the back for a minute until I could stop shaking with rage.)

(I have been taken off the schedule for a particular week. I assume this is because I haven’t taken a holiday in quite a while, and have been given a mandatory holiday [without notice, but such a thing is common at my store]. I am shopping on Friday afternoon with my mum, in said store, when a department manager approaches both of us while we roam around. The store’s week end is Saturdays.)

Manager: “[My Name], you haven’t been put in the rota for this week.”

Me: “I know.”

Manager: “Well, you need to work, otherwise you won’t fill your quota, and will be written up.”

Me: “But I wasn’t scheduled in to begin with; I thought it was a holiday. Why would I be written up for someone else’s mistake?”

Manager:“Because that’s how it works. You need to work a shift. There’s a note in the office; someone’s contacted you about this today.”

Me: *turning to my mum* “Has anyone called?”

Mum: “No, and I’ve been in the house all day.”

Me: *after checking my phone* “No missed calls. You have both my numbers. No one’s called.”

Manager: “Someone would have called if they haven’t already.”

Me: *checking my phone again* “The store is only open for another hour. You’re saying someone was going to phone me this late? The rota has been up all week. When did you notice the mistake?”

Manager: “It doesn’t matter now. You need to work this week. When can you do it?”

Me: *giving up* “Tomorrow morning, first thing.”

Manager: “First thing?”

Me: “From the second a manager opens those doors.”

Manager: “Tomorrow’s not good. Sunday is better.”

Me: “Sunday is next week. It would defeat the purpose of coming in.”

Manager: “Tomorrow isn’t good.”

Me: “I don’t care. I’m working tomorrow.”

Manager: “Okay.” *walks away, no thanks or goodbye*

(When I get home, I check for any messages. Shocker – there is none. I work the shift, and the following week, we get a lecture from the store manager.)

Store Manager: “Someone decided he would work a shift last week when he had mandatory holidays, meaning he went over his limit for accruing holidays. We’re now being penalised as a store for it.” *looking directly at me* “No one is getting written up for it, but let this be a warning. Do not think you can just come in anytime you feel like it. There will be consequences.”

Me: “I’ll hold my hand up and say it was me who worked last week. But don’t think for a second it that was by choice. [Manager] interrupted me while I was shopping and demanded I work to meet my quota-“

Store Manager: “She said she offered you Sunday-“

Me: “Which would have been a new week, a new quota to meet-“

Store Manager: “She was a bit rushed on Saturday and she didn’t understand the situa-“

Me: “Then what use is she? I assumed it was a holiday, but as no one bothers to tell us or confirm it, I couldn’t have known.”

Store Manager: “All you have to do is knock on the admin office and ask.”

Me: “From who? The only person in there is [Admin Manager] every morning, and she only balances the float and does the payroll. She has no understanding of how the schedule is created.”

Store Manager: “Yes, because it’s my duty to do that.”

Me: “Then leave a note for her or something. If such a little mistake is worthy of a write up, maybe you should put a little more effort into it before we walk or the store goes under.”

Store Manager: “…good point. I’ll look into it. Now everyone sign.”

(He literally did nothing about it, and asking the admin manager was ultimately pointless, as she refused to do anything. I ended up contacting the store manager’s personal number every week to find out about mandatory holidays [until he blocked me]. I got in touch with HR, asking about what could be done, and was told any manager could take on the responsibility, provided they were trained. A senior manager reassigned the responsibilities, and the admin manager was put forward for the schedule, but left beforehand, citing “too much workload.” I stepped forward to replace her and was trained by the senior manager in person. It only took two weeks to understand everything. In protest of my work ethic, two more managers left, who, surprisingly, we didn’t need to replace. The employees working under them did more than the managers ever had, and took a decent pay increase to fulfill the responsibilities, while I took on the rest. Our store ended up being the only store in our cluster to operate with a reduced management [three managers instead of five or six]. I even started taking on the store manager’s duties [or rather the ones he never bothered with]. He eventually claimed praise for improving efficiency, but the senior manager wasn’t impressed with his claim and audit checked us. My name was on everything, and while I should have gotten in trouble for overstepping my authority, the senior manager simply decided to take his place temporarily, demote him and the remaining manager, and promote me to assistant store manager. The employees who were fulfilling the absent manager roles were promoted, and two new managers were brought in. I was finally promoted to store manager, once the senior manager was satisfied with my performance. So, this is how I went from part-time to store manager inside of a year. The old store manager still works here, but he is completely useless. It surprises me how he got to be the manager in the first place.)

(I work in my university’s bookshop. A student comes in and asks for a book for his course.)

Me: “Sorry, we’ve sold out. We get a new stock in every Monday, so if you come in first thing you should be able to get one.”

Student: “I can see one on the shelf behind the counter. Give me that one.”

Me: “Actually, that one is mine. I bought it last Monday when they first came in.”

Student: “You don’t need that. I do. Give it to me.”

Me: “What makes you think I don’t need it?”

Student: “Because you’re just a shop assistant. You don’t even have the qualifications needed to apply for [University], and [Course] is much too hard for you.”

Me: “Hmm, I see you weren’t at the pre-lecture meet-up.”

Student: “What? Yes, I was. How would you know?”

Me: “Because if you had been there, you would know that I’m the seminar tutor for [Course].”

(He looked at me like I’m nuts and left. Our first seminar was the day after, and I made an extra special effort to stress that the bookshop gets new stock every MONDAY. [Student] kept his head down for the entire seminar. I figure he got his books elsewhere from then on, because I’ve yet to see him in the shop since.)

(I’m part of the hiring team at my job. I do technical support for a very large company and I’m the team lead. The hiring manager will bring interviewees to sit with me for 15 minutes so that the person can see what we actually do and so that I can assess the person’s suitability for our environment. I am not told who the person is ahead of time, just given a calendar invite to block out my time for the meeting.)

Hiring Manager: “Hi, [My Name], this is [Interviewee].”

(It is a middle-aged guy that I immediately recognize.)

Me: “Hi, [Interviewee], or should I call you [His Username from a dating app]?”

(At this point, he recognizes me, too, and looks horrified.)

Me: “Remember me? I’m [My Username from the dating app], the old hag you sent an unsolicited d**k-pic to.”

Interviewee: *stammering* “That wasn’t me. I’ve never done that!”

Me: *to hiring manager* “Is his cell phone number [number]?”

(I looked at him and smiled, then told him that I’d paid for a reverse lookup on his cell phone number and had all of his personal information. The hiring manager checked the documents in her hand and nodded. I pulled out my phone and showed the manager the messages he sent me, including the abusive language he sent after I told him off for being a jerk. The manager looked grim and immediately ended the interview. Needless to say, he didn’t get hired.)

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